John Hancock wouldn't sign off on The Professors' showing vs. fifth-graders

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
The Professors, Bill Libby (left) and Paul Fabrizio (center), laugh after missing a question during the “Are You smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?” competition against The Professors at KWKC studio.

McMurry Magnet School fifth-graders Brian Lester (from left), Jaron Reynolds and Tatum Bohannon talk over an answer during the “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?” competition against The Professors on the KWKC radio station Tuesday afternoon at KWKC studio.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

For a few moments, it looked as though this might be the year in which McMurry University professors Bill Libby and Paul Fabrizio defeated their fifth-grade nemeses.

However, the hosts of the KWKC radio show, "The Professors," fell for the fifth straight year in their annual "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" competition.

This year, the trio of Brian Lester, Jaron Reynolds and Tatum Bohannon, all Abilene ISD students in the science and math magnet program at McMurry University, laid a whipping on them, winning 9-6.

The professors tied the score at five each when the kids missed a question about how many zeroes were in a googol (they guessed none; it's 100). However, the professors fell apart in the second half, failing to answer how to determine if a number can be divided by 3 (if the sum of the numbers can divided by 3), why Latin is used as the language of science (it's universal and unchanging since it's a dead language) and what the name Baton Rouge translates to in English (Red Stick).

It was an uphill struggle for the professors from the beginning, when they were asked which one of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin didn't sign the U.S. Constitution. They guessed Franklin. It was Hancock.

That was particularly painful for Fabrizio, a political science professor.

"It's embarrassing," he said, head down following the program. "You try to look at the big picture and you miss some of the smaller details."

Reynolds and Lester said they felt no particular sense of pride having bested the professors, despite their academic credentials. Tatum was just happy the string wasn't broken.

"She said, ‘The pressure's on,' when we got out of the car," teacher Sharyln Bammel, who served as the moderator for the contest, said Tatum told her as they went in.

Fabrizio said he and his partner aren't losing because of a lack of effort.

"It's amazing what you forget," he said. "Or, in some cases, never knew."

The question he said he would remember was the one about Baton Rouge.

It should be noted that math and science are not the areas of expertise for the professors. Libby teaches Old Testament. "And these kids are in a math and science magnet school," he said.